An offer of revenge
by Blahsblah2001
Summary: Miroku meets Sesshoumaru in the woods, and the youkai has a proposition for him. Is revenge worth a life? Not yaoi, COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1

Miroku meets Sesshoumaru in the woods, and the youkai has a proposition for him. Is revenge worth a life? (Not yaoi)

I hope no one's done this yet, but I don't think that's likely. Please don't yell at me if you had this idea first.

Miroku rubbed his face, where the hand mark was still there, in bright red.

"If Sango sees this I'm dead," he muttered. His lecherous ways were getting him in trouble more and more often lately. He was between a village and the camp his friends had set up. He could almost see the fire ahead, on the path.

"Nope, gotta lie low just a little longer."

He was planning on waiting a few more minutes before returning to the others, but that plan was ruined when he heard his name being called. In a very familiar female voice, too.

"Miroku?"

The figure matching the voice appeared around the corner, though he could barely see sango in the dark.

"Gotta hide, gotta hide!"

He jumped off the path, trying to put as many concealing trees between him and the woman as possible. As it turned out, he overdid it just a tiny bit.

"That ought to do it. So… where am I again?"

Every direction looked the same, which was a telltale sign of an enchanted forest.

"But there's no jaki, so it must just be my imagination," Miroku told himself.

"Talking to yourself is a sign of poor mental stability," a voice said evenly. Miroku whirled around, to face whoever had spoken. A figure dressed almost entirely in white stood there, a strong contrast to the black night behind him.

"Sesshoumaru?" He didn't need to ask, the youkai was unmistakeable. Miroku's left hand went to the sheath on his right.

"You'd be dead before you even started on the knot, human, and for once I don't feel like killing you."

"What are you doing here? You aren't after the tessaiga again, are you?"

"You're destined to die."

"Where did that come from?"

"The hole in your right hand will eventually consume you, as it did your father and grandfather. Probably in the middle of the night, and imagine the sorrow if your companions happened to be sleeping nearby."

Miroku glared at the youkai.

"So why do you care? You're a heartless bastard and we all know it, so whatever you're trying to pull, I'm not falling for it."

"I'm not trying to 'pull' anything. I have a simple proposition for you. In order to rid yourself of the curse, you have to defeat Naraku."

"And I know that, too."

"But he protects himself too well. His saimyoushou render your wind tunnel useless, and don't even get me started on your woman's ridiculously huge boomerang. That leaves my baka of a brother and his human wench. In short, you can't kill him. I can."

"And why so charitable all of a sudden?"

"I can do something you cannot, and you can do something I can't."

"What is that?"

"You can kill Inuyasha."

"What?"

"With the tessaiga it is impossible for me to kill him, without it, even more so."

Miroku shivered as he recalled Inuyasha's transformation into a full demon. Such a creature had nothing but the desire, and the ability, to kill.

"No. I won't."

"Then you will die. Just hope you are the only one."

Sesshoumaru pointed a random direction.

"Your camp is that way. I'll be watching, should you reconsider."

And then he was gone, leaving Miroku alone.

To be continued, but only if you're nice to me.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I'm updating, live with it.

But first I get to put in this little tidbit of wisdom: I've got a page from a coloring book scanned onto my computer so I can practice drawing/coloring/shading with a mouse. I just spent about twenty minutes trying to get Inuyasha's eyes the right color. (I am slow, but incredibly accurate.) To do this I got something like 50 screenshots and combined the colors from all of them. The salient point: People always use 'gold' as the adjective. They're not gold. They're the exact same color as caramel.

I'm obsessed, thought you might want to know.

Dedicated to Mizuyu, for being the first to review!

Sure the offending slap mark was indeed gone, Miroku went the direction Sesshoumaru had told him, and did indeed come across the camp. Sango, it seemed, had tired of waiting for him and had some to sleep. Kagome, too, was sleeping, Shippo beside her. The dying embers of the fire lit their sleeping faces a light gold.

And Inuyasha?

He was sleeping sitting up, as usual, the tessaiga held to his chest the way a small child would hold a bear.

"So where've you been?"

Oh. Not sleeping, then.

"Oh, you know…"

"If this has anything to do with that village, I don't want to hear it."

"Well okay then."

Miroku dropped into a sitting position, facing the fire.

"Then why are you up so late?"

"I was asleep, but you make more noise than an army."

"Shut up," Shippo groaned, rolling over and promptly falling back asleep.

"I think he's got the right idea," Miroku said, lying back. After a minute, he too was asleep. Inuyasha remained alert, his senses bringing him news of pretty much everything going on for a mile's radius. Deep in the forest, a rabbit getting caught screamed, and the sound made his hair stand on end. None of the others seemed to hear anything, so he didn't worry about it.

He could swear, though, that there was something nearby. Something, someone, waiting.

He sighed. He would have to get some sleep. The next night was a new moon, and he would be pulling an all-nighter then, too. Hanyou or not, he still needed to sleep.

Silently dreading the approaching night, he closed his eyes against the light of the fire. It was a while before he was able to drift off.

"What are we doing this for, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Jaken was bored. Bored to the point of questioning his master. And that was pretty freaking bored.

"The hanyou has got to be killed. Since I cannot do it myself, I must employ other methods."

"But why a human?"

Sesshoumaru was silent and for a moment Jaken thought he wasn't going to answer.

"For reasons I shall never know, the hanyou is stronger, by a long shot, than many full youkai. Naraku himself has created many demons, and all have fallen. A normal human wouldn't stand a chance. Baka though he is, he knows there are many who would slay him, and is on his guard at all times. But what if he wasn't? What if the attack came from a place he would never expect?"

"His friend."

"The monk is loyal to those close to him, I'll give him that. So I had to turn his loyalty against him."

"An amazing plan, Sesshoumaru-sama."

The youkai didn't respond, and Jaken didn't expect him to.

"So where were you all night?"

Sango was not happy. Quite the opposite, actually. Miroku's lecherous ways weren't exactly a secret, and while they had lessened a bit since their engagement, he was nowhere near what she would like him to be.

Particularly when he had the facial expression he did now.

"I kinda got a little lost."

The taijiya gave him a critical look. Then, convinced, she gave him a smile.

"Well okay then. Come on, breakfast's almost ready."

Miroku looked to where Inuyasha and the others were already eating. They were living off Kagome's ninja food again. Shippo grabbed the last bag of chips, and Inuyasha commenced to fight him for it. The monk started to smile, but the memory of the night before came back to him, and the smile died before it reached his face.

"That's okay. I'm… not hungry."

Sango shrugged and went to join the others. Inuyasha knocked Shippo over the head and got a faceful of dirt as a result.

Sango grinned at the little performance, almost a daily ritual now. Kagome glared at Inuyasha's sputtering form, then offered some of the chips to Sango.

Then you will die. Just hope you are the only one.

Miroku sat straight up. The memory was so sudden he could have sworn the silver-haired youkai was right behind him.

And was he?

He had said he would be watching.

Slowly Miroku turned around, expecting to see a red-eyed demon glaring at him. All he saw were trees.

'I'm freaking myself out.'

Hope you're the only one.

'This is stupid. There's no way I would do that. No way I even could.'

But he was lying to himself and he knew it. Though the hanyou would rather die than admit it, he did trust his friends. And he should.

Right?

Imagine the sorrow if your companions happened to be sleeping nearby

STOP IT.

As is it knew what he was thinking about, the wind tunnel burned. He bit his lip at the pain. It had been doing that a lot lately. It was getting bigger. Where a single prayer bead used to be able to cover it, it now took almost three.

And they were no closer to defeating Naraku. They didn't even know where he was.

Did Sesshoumaru?

Cold bastard. He probably knew exactly where the hanyou was hiding. Probably knew his weaknesses, too.

Miroku looked back at the others. What if he were to kill one of them? He could die at any time, his father had been about this old when he was killed. He watched Inuyasha, who in turn was watching Kagome. Did he want to live that badly?

Could he want Sango, Kagome, or even Shippo to live that much?

Could he be that selfish?

Maybe.

Oh, yes, Miroku feels the pull of the dark side.

BWAHAHAHAHAA… haa… haa…

Okay I'm done.


	3. Chapter 3

The day took several eternities to pass. With the coming of the new moon Inuyasha was even grumpier that normal. Miroku spent most of it separated from the rest of the group, lost in a lot of thought. According to Kagome there wasn't a jewel shard for miles around. Even Kirara seemed at ease.  
With nothing to fight and no real destination to head to and, for once, no bodies to bury, the group of friends was free to just… relax.

"Arrgh… I HATE THIS!"  
"Quit pacing, Inuyasha, you're giving me a headache," Kagome said, looking away from her homework.  
"It's way to quiet and I swear there's somebody watching us."  
"You're just being paranoid." Sango told him. He sent a glance at the falling sun, almost halfway set now. In only another few minutes it would get dark, and then…  
"I hate this," he said again.  
"I don't suppose any of you guys know about binomial equations?" Kagome said without a lot of hope. She was met with four blank stares.  
"Didn't think so."  
"Why do you even have to know this stuff?" Inuyasha asked, poking at a page covered in numbers. "If it won't kill a demon and you can't eat it, what good is it?"  
"Yeah like explaining it to you would do any good."  
"Keh. I don't know why I bother."  
Without another word Inuyasha turned and disappeared into the semi-darkness beyond the fire's light. Withina moment he was out of sight.  
Unnoticed by the others, Miroku went slowly after him.

Sesshoumaru was seriously starting to worry about the monk. Maybe he wasn't as easily swayed as the youkai had thought. Anyone else, he was sure, would have at least thought about making a move in the night, while their prey was sleeping. But not Miroku. He hadn't even been kept up.  
Was he waiting for something?  
The daiyoukai remained hidden, watching, as his brother left the ring of light. Miroku went after him, quietly. Something wasn't right though. Even if he only had a half-breed's senses Inuyasha should have heard his friend coming.  
He seemed totally oblivious to everything going on around him.  
Was he sick or something?

Inuyasha sat by the edge of a dropoff, leaning against a tree trunk, and watched the last sliver of sun disappear behind the horizon. A tingling started to burn in his chest, spreading outward. It was slightly nauseating, like having your whole body fall asleep.  
Like it always happened, the colors got a bit brighter as his line of vision shortened to only a few dozen feet. The few sounds he could still hear sounded like they were coming to him through cotton. A lock of his hair blew in front of his face, and he saw that it was, once again, pitch black.  
"I hate this," he muttered.  
It was bad enough that the tessaiga was all but useless, but in this state he wouldn't hear an enemy even if they came running up behind him. They could almost be on top of him before he realized they were even-  
A hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped about a foot in the air.  
"Little high-strung tonight, are we?"  
"Dammit, Miroku, one of these days I'm going to-"  
"One of these days, maybe, but not tonight."  
Grumbling, Inuyasha sunk down among the roots of the tree, glaring at the younger man.  
"So what do you want?"  
Miroku didn't respond for a long time.  
"Inuyasha… how badly do you want to beat Naraku?"  
"That's a stupid question. More than anything."  
"Anything at all?"  
"What's with the questions? You got a point in there anywhere or are you just trying to piss me off?"  
"Say, there was a way to beat him, almost for sure. Only problem is, you'd have to die to make it work. What about then?"  
"What kind of question is that?"  
"A very important one. What's the answer?"  
The hanyou studied the tessaiga like the answers to the universe could be found in the scuffed surface of the blade.  
"Just me? Not you or Kagome or Sango, you'd all be okay, right?"  
"Yeah. Just you."

Sesshoumaru dropped what few reservations he had had and stared. His brother was a human. Tonight of all nights. So that's what the monk had been waiting for.  
The more he thought about it, of course his brother would be human, at some point.  
Why hadn't he thought of it before?  
Sigh.

Okay, I close this chapter now. Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Dedicated to Dennies, who lets me copy her CDs… and for so much more than that.

Kagome stared into the woods in the direction Inuyasha had disappeared.

"Do you think he's okay? Off by himself, I mean."

"I'm sure he's fine. Inuyasha makes a point of being able to take care of himself."

"I know. He's just been acting really weird today. Even weirder than normal."

"Miroku, too." Sango cast a look around the dim circle of firelight. "Speaking of that monk, I haven't seen him in a long time. Where'd he go?"

"Huh? I dunno."

"Well, I'm going to find him."

"I'm gonna try to find Inuyasha. It's creepy not having him around."

"Aww, do you miiiiiss hiiiiim?" Sango said in a sing-song voice.

"No! I just… like having him here."

Sango gave Kagome a knowing smile.

"I know that feeling."

With that she disappeared into the trees.

'What'd she mean by that?' Kagome thought. 'She sounds like Eri. She's always teasing me about liking Inuyasha. Ha! What do they know. I mean sure I like him, but not… like like…

'Wait a minute. What am I doing? I don't have to explain this out to myself. I don't like him and that's all there is to it.

'right?'

Oh, this is stupid.

I'll just go find him, make sure he hasn't got himself killed.

Sesshoumaru moved silently, outside the line of the human's sight. He couldn't depend on the human, apparently the monk had his own ideas as to how the situation should be handled.

Not that he would ever get a chance.

Inuyasha was saying something insignificant, Miroku was assuring him that it would work. Imperceptibly, the monk's left hand was picking at the knot on the sheath on his right.

He would have to work fast, before the thing got opened.

"So let me get this straight. You kill me, Sesshoumaru kills Naraku?"

"Yes, assuming he keeps his word."

"I wish you'd just done it and not stuck your moral crap on me," Inuyasha said, his dark brown eyes narrowing in Miroku's direction.

"I was wondering if I'd be able to live with myself."

"Yeah, well, I could have."

"So you'll do it?"

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment, thinking.

"You'll take care of Kagome, right?"

"Of course."

"And by 'take care' I don't mean-"

"Oh. Come now, would I do that?"

Inuyasha nodded, grinning a bit.

"You're no saint. So how are you gonna pull this off?" Inuyasha dropped into a fighting stance. "If it'll let you sleep at night, I'll fight back."

"Don't bother," said a voice from behind him. The human hanyou spun around, eyes searching the darkness for the speaker. He had a sinking feeling he knew who it was.

"You won't be fighting him," Sesshoumaru said, appearing behind him again.

The familiar claustrophobia set in as Inuyasha realized he hadn't even felt his hated half-brother approach, though the daiyoukai was only a foot or so behind him. He turned again, trying to at least see his enemy.

"This certainly is an interesting development, isn't it, little brother? If I had known about this little transformation of yours, I wouldn't have bothered trying to bribe your comrades."

"Oh, shut up, we don't want to hear your babbling."

"Then I'll go straight to killing you. Monk, no deal."

"Well if I'm not getting anything out of dying, I'll just have to kill you, instead," Inuyasha growled.

"Sesshie," he added under his breath, with a grin.

He might have added something else, but it was cut off as Sesshoumaru lunged at him, his motions liquid and smooth. If it was easy for him to beat his brother as a hanyou, it was triply so as a human.

This fight wouldn't last long.

"How far could he possibly have gone?" Kagome asked herself as she fought the dark forest for passage. Inuyasha usually ran off on nights he became human, but he'd never ventured off THIS far…

Seeing a tall tree, Kagome got an Idea. Hanging her bow off her shoulder she grabbed a low branch, swinging her body on top of it. From there it was easy to climb higher. The only problem was, despite the superior vantage point provided by the height of the tree, the leaves blocked most of her view.

She was about to give up and head back to the camp when she saw a flash of red through the leaves. No wonder she hadn't found him, she was going the wrong direction. Armed with a destination, Kagome dropped back onto the ground, heading for where she had seen Inuyasha.

"Are you trying to run, Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru shook his head, staring through the darkness at his half-brother. "The least you could do is accept your fate, fight like a true demon. Or a man, whichever you'd prefer. Either way, I'll still kill you."

Miroku was long lost behind them as Inuyasha retreated further into the concealing trees, Sesshoumaru following flawlessly.

The darkness was broken for only a second as a band of light flew from Sesshoumaru's fingertips, flying through blackness to hit it's mark, not for the first time, on Inuyasha's skin.

The hanyou said some very colorful words, even for him. The afterimage of the whip shone bright red in his mostly black view.

"Actually, now the only question is how to kill you," Sesshoumaru mused from somewhere he couldn't see.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth and prayed, to whatever god he thought would listen, that the sun would come up.

Soon.

That hope was mostly destroyed as he felt hands close around his neck. He heard someone call his name, he supposed it was Miroku, finally catching up. Not his main concern right now. He tried to fight back, but his brother's arms were longer than his, putting the youkai safely out of range. He clawed at the vice-like hands, only to remember that his claws were in fact gone, replaced by a human's fingernails.

Damn, damn, damn.

The blackness disappeared behind a flood of technicolored bubbles. He stopped fighting, it wasn't worth the extra pain. His name was called again, this time it sounded a lot nicer. He felt a jerk, probably his soul leaving his body. The pain began to subside a bit.

Someone was calling his name. Kikyo?

That's right, she was dead, too, wasn't she?

At least he'd see her again…

Kagome shielded her eyes as the bright green light flipped out again, showing her the locations of both Inuyasha and his attacker. She silently pulled an arrow and drew it, aiming at the whiteness she assumed was Sesshoumaru. But then he moved again, never in the same place for more than a second.

Where had he gone?

She scanned the area, finally landing on the light spot. She heard someone call Inuyasha's name, probably Miroku. So that's where he got to, she thought absently, as she drew the arrow back.

Sango will want to know.

She released the arrow.

Sango was getting really pissed. She'd searched everywhere for that damn monk, and he was nowhere to be found.

When she finally found him, back at their campsite, it all evaporated. Miroku and Kagome were kneeling next to Inuyasha's prone human form. Shippo was taking vigil with them, actually looking worried.

"He didn't try to fight something tonight, did he?" Sango asked, a little bluntly. Three faces turned to look at her, and she backed up a step.

"So what happened?"

"Inuyasha and I were out talking, Sesshoumaru attacked us, Kagome shot him," Miroku said. Sango blinked.

"Well that was pretty basic, but okay."

"He'll be okay, right?" Shippo asked anyone who would answer.

"We'll have to wait until morning," Miroku said solemnly.

"It… is morning," Inuyasha groaned. Everyone looked at him. His half-lidded eyes changed colors, brightening to their usual caramel color, and the black flowing out of his hair like ink being washed away.

"I thought I was dead," he said bluntly.

"Damn, my head hurts," he added, sitting up and rubbing his forehead.

He turned slightly toward Miroku.

"We tell them nothing," he mouthed. The monk nodded.

"What was that?" Shippo asked.

"Nothing, runt," the hanyou said, smacking him over the head. "So where's Sesshoumaru? Dead yet?"

"No, he left after Kagome hit him with her arrow," Miroku told him. "I guess he thought he had accomplished his goal."

"Nah, takes more than that. A lot more."

"So you want to stay here another day?" Kagome asked him.

"Heck no. I'll be ready to leave in an hour or so."

"Good, because I think I felt a jewel shar-"

"Make that five minutes," Inuyasha said, getting up. "Come on, let's go get it before somebody else does."

Shippo sighed. Nothing ever changes.

Okay, that's it. (Sets up flame barriers) Give me your worst!


End file.
